Rating: 
Summary: arnaldo_etrusco@hotmail.com
Review: Fantastic! Excelent for future inkers! Gary Martin is a good teacher
Rating:
Summary: The artwork's not too shabby, either.
Review: First and foremost, the author states in the first chapter, first sentence, first paragraph... before you begin to ink, 'learn to draw'! This book is absolutely amazing. The artwork and techniques described in this book are priceless. These are the same techniques pros use in what you buy in the comic book stand. It's fairly easy to ink, and the author and his talented band of contributing artists prove this through their many examples and explanations on how they achieved their results. You will learn valuable techniques, starting with the basics, how to hold the pen or brush, line weight, and pen / brush control. Also, cross-hatching, dry-brushing, feathering your lines, etc... (these tend to be my favorites). You'll learn how to translate a penciled peice of artwork into a finished inked drawing primarily. You'll learn how to ink faces and facial features, as well as backgrounds and other objects. The author also clarifies any question you may have on the duties and tasks performed by the inker, as well as finding jobs as an inker. There is alot more to be taught in this book, believe me. The book includes a reproduced page of artwork for you practice on as well, which is great. As other reviewers have mentioned, the pencils are done by the same, excellent I may add, artist named (Steve Rude). But, I feel the author gives you enough leverage with what you learn in this book to learn fairly easy how to ink other penciling styles.
Rating:
Summary: The artwork's not too shabby, either.
Review: First and foremost, the author states in the first chapter, first sentence, first paragraph... before you begin to ink, 'learn to draw'! This book is absolutely amazing. The artwork and techniques described in this book are priceless. These are the same techniques pros use in what you buy in the comic book stand. It's fairly easy to ink, and the author and his talented band of contributing artists prove this through their many examples and explanations on how they achieved their results. You will learn valuable techniques, starting with the basics, how to hold the pen or brush, line weight, and pen / brush control. Also, cross-hatching, dry-brushing, feathering your lines, etc... (these tend to be my favorites). You'll learn how to translate a penciled peice of artwork into a finished inked drawing primarily. You'll learn how to ink faces and facial features, as well as backgrounds and other objects. The author also clarifies any question you may have on the duties and tasks performed by the inker, as well as finding jobs as an inker. There is alot more to be taught in this book, believe me. The book includes a reproduced page of artwork for you practice on as well, which is great. As other reviewers have mentioned, the pencils are done by the same, excellent I may add, artist named (Steve Rude). But, I feel the author gives you enough leverage with what you learn in this book to learn fairly easy how to ink other penciling styles.
Rating: 
Summary: A Little Disappointing
Review: First of all I want everyone to notice that this is only VOLUME 2. Volume one is no longer available anywhere. Thus, making this book fairly useless. The only thing that it's really good at it showing different stiles between professional comic book inkers. It nice to page through and I don't regret buyin it but it is not necessary for an artist's library.
Rating:
Summary: A Little Disappointing
Review: First of all I want everyone to notice that this is only VOLUME 2. Volume one is no longer available anywhere. Thus, making this book fairly useless. The only thing that it's really good at it showing different stiles between professional comic book inkers. It nice to page through and I don't regret buyin it but it is not necessary for an artist's library.
Rating:
Summary: Great tips from the pros
Review: Good stuff. Gary Martin teaches solid fundamentals for comic book inking, focusing mainly on superhero work inked with brushes. His advice is pretty thorough -- he starts with how to properly hold a brush, and works through essential things like placing line-weights according to lighting and spotting blacks to establish emphasis. Later sections have a variety of professionals providing their inks over the same page of Steve (the dude) Rude's pencil art to demonstrate individual inking styles. The best thing about this book is Martin's dedication to explaining solid fundamentals instead of just showing you the usual flashy effects. I busted my hand once a couple years ago and, while recuperating, read and absorbed this fine little book. It made me re-think how I approach inking and I still apply much of Martin's advice daily. The followup Volume 2 is also good but has far less real content and more comparitive samples by pros.
Rating:
Summary: Fully Realized How to Book
Review: I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Martin focuses on his genre (superhero) and the inking techniques he describes are best suited for that. However, he is really talking about classical, traditional inking styles and in that sense, he is talking about comic book art as a whole. There are beautiful examples of different techniques. Plus, Martin is funny and fun to read. He also gives glimpses into the industry and talks about the role of a professional inker. There's even some theory in there -- really cool. Perfect how to and reference book for a beginning or medium experience inker.
Rating: 
Summary: Great for aspiring inkers and comic fans alike
Review: I finally know what makes for good comic book inks after reading this book. Gary Martin comprehensively outlines all the elements of comic book inking including the various techniques, styles and methods that the pros use. Plenty of samples from his own work and that of others. If you want to learn how to ink comic book art or you just want to know what distinguishes good inking from bad, I highly recommend this book. The production values, art and cover are also very professional.
Rating:
Summary: Very disappointed...
Review: I know how to draw (or at least, I think I do) but I never learned how to finish a pencil drawing with ink. So I was totally looking forward to having a professional give me pointers on how to lay down a decent line. But this book tells you nothing. For starters, it's not even a book. It's more like a pamphlet, it's so frigging short. I think it's only about 65 pages. Secondly, you are NEVER told how to put a line of ink onto a page. Nothing. No explination. All they do is tell you what brushes or pens some guys like and give you some before (pencil) and after (inked) drawings. But you're never told how to hold your pen or brush, how to drag your instrument, or how to actually make a good looking line. VERY FRUSTRATING since that is exactly what I thought I was paying for. -Dan P.S. I learned later that this 'book' is apparently the 2nd of two books. I've looked everywhere for the 1st book but nobody seems to sell it.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for human figues, not much else.
Review: It does cover many essential techniques of brush inking for comic books. The meat of it is about inking super heroic human features, and considerations about how to approach it. For this it is valuable. Other subjects like "spotting blacks" , rendering background elements, rendering various textures, using zip a tone etc are only given a page to a page and a half, with too few examples. the celebrity inkers section is hit or miss...some of them describe their approach in a useful way and some avoid practical advice in favour of talking about their "attitude" on inking. ( One inker commented that he never discusses what tools he uses for fear of cramping some one's creativity. That teaches me nothing.) For human figures: valuable. For other stuff :not.
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